Learning From The Past
by Ai Chiyo
Summary: A journal found it wasn't her own, but she kept it. Even without having any clue whose it was or how she'd come to acquire it. She didn't even open it until the lazy genius suggested she should. What they learned would change them and everyone in Kohona.


Temari looked around her new apartment. It wasn't super fancy like everything she had known, but it was affordable and reasonable. She couldn't afford elegant perfection on her teacher's salary. She didn't really want it either. She'd had it before and it never had made her any happier than she was. A relief filled sigh left the plump lips of the twenty-one year old pre-school teacher.

"Finally a home of my own."

She had waited so long to say those words. She had been stuck under the thumb of her over-controlling, manipulating, bastard of a father. She hated the short tempered man. All he wanted was for his children to be as miserable as he was stuck at a demanding job with no love life and perpetually mourning his late wife who died giving birth to his second son. He blamed his son for that. Always coming home drunk and screaming at the young boy, beating him black and blue, then breaking down in tears and promising never to do it again, but come a week later when the bruises were fading would do the same. She had protected the boy the best she could. As an infant and even a toddler he was never touched unjustly, but the older he grew the more he resented being protected by his older sister. He grew distant and unemotional escaping at the age of seventeen to the very town she was in. She planned to see him once she settled herself.

She laughed at herself. Thinking of how strange she looked just standing with a very large and equally heavy box in the door way of an empty apartment. She heard a door open and felt eyes on her.

"A new neighbor? Tche. Troublesome." Dropping the box gently to the floor and kicking it across the deep cherry colored hardwood she turned and smirked.

"I see you're just so excited." She noted that a lazy smirk came onto his face.

"Shikamaru Nara."

"Temari Sabaku*." He nodded.

"Welcome to Kohona and I'll leave you to unpacking." Temari smiled nodding and watched him disappear down the hall. She went about getting her furniture in place and then unpacking the rooms from there.

She started by unpacking her music. She couldn't live without it. She quickly found a electrical socket and plugged in a radio that had a CD player and slipped in her favorite Black Veil Brides album. Punching the repeat button once she was off on her quest stopping only when she encountered a ornate and elegant journal that she knew wasn't her own. Deciding it was beautiful and without even opening it she placed it on the shelf carefully and resumed filling the bookcase with a wide array of books. As she finished that last task a knock sounded at her door.

"Coming," She shouted rising and admiring her hard work before she took off to get the door. A man certainly close to her age stood before her. He had a rich chocolate hair color and striking red triangle tattoos adorning his face. A huge white dog stood by his side.

"Hello can I help you?" Temari asked apprehensively.

"Hey. I'm Kiba Inuzuka and I live next door. This is my dog Akamaru. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood." She smiled warmly at him.

"Can I pet Akamaru?" A very dog like smile came onto his face.

"Of course." Temari knelt petting the dog's fluffy maine. A sweet smile lit up the rare features of her face.

"You're a handsome boy, Akamaru." She ruffled his hair and kissed his nose before standing again.

"I'm Temari Sabaku and thank you for stopping by. I'd offer you in, but I'm beat after unpacking everything."

"That's fine." His eyes grew large.

"What time is it?"

"Around six-thirty-four."

"Crap dinner! I have to go!" And with that the tanned male and the snow white dog were down the hall. Temari smiled and shut the door.

"This should be interesting..." She thought taking a seat on her couch relaxing to the sound of her music.

**Welp. That's the first chapter. The next will be in the first person. I'm already working on it. Oh and the whole Temari Sabaku thing. Gaara's last name is Sabaku so considering the fact that Temari is his sister it'd only make sense they carry the same last name. Anyway. I have big plans for this story and I'd really love your reviews!  
><strong>**-Love Ai-chan**


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